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UMD murder suspect asking for hate crime charges to be dropped

Posted at 9:24 AM, Nov 14, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-14 09:24:36-05

A former University of Maryland student charged with murder and a hate crime in the stabbing death of a young African American man is asking a judge to drop the hate crime charge. 

Lawyers for Sean Urbanski say the charge of hate crime violates their client's First Amendment rights and they don't want Urbanski's racist posts on a white supremacist Facebook page to be allowed in as evidence.

RELATED: Maryland man indicted for hate crime in student's slaying

Prince George's County State's Attorney Angela Alsobrooks announced a grand jury indictment against Sean Urbanski in October of 2017. Richard Collins III was stabbed to death on May 20 at the University of Maryland, days before he was set to graduate from Bowie State University.

Collins was black, Urbanski is white.

Alsobrooks says authorities analyzed "lots and lots of digital evidence," including evidence from a phone. She says prosecutors are comfortable they brought enough evidence justifying the hate crime charge.

A hearing on that motion is set for December 17.